RE – Why We Exist?

Recently I watched Simon Sinek’s brilliant Ted Talk on “How great leaders inspire action.” He has a terrific style and a way of communicating ‘what’s important to the success of any organization or cause.’ It dawned on me while watching, I was guilty of repeating certain patterns that negatively affected the success of my communications and organization.

Specifically I’ve been feeling people were not connecting to ‘the message’ because they are uncertain what we stand for, aim to accomplish or why we even exist. Oof! That’s a tough blow to realize, but invigorating once you understand it.

Simply put, Simon Says (snicker, snicker) that most organizations make the fateful mistake of stating their mission and value proposition in the following order:

What (they sell or do),

How (the details about how they do it)

Why (the back story about why they exist).

And moreover, since people’s motivation to “engage” stems from what they “believe in” (the why), the order is better off reversed for clarity of the message and comprehension of, or engagement with, the audience. It should look like this: (1) Why, (2) How (3) What

Before I go any further, let me first admit that this is my 4th or 5th time watching the You Tube video and I’ve recommended it no less than 10 times. So, why was this so hard for me to grasp? Why did I fall back into old patterns of merely describing the details of the enterprise rather than stating the mission?

Is it because it took us a while to grasp the contributions of our predecessors? For sure.

…because we wanted to understand and honor the legacy/heritage of what’s in place? Yes

…because we wanted to find a way to make our mark and personalize it? Certainly

…because the learning curve of a task of this undertaking is huge? Definitely

All that being said, they are valid but passive reasons. They almost feel like excuses now looking back. The main point is we needed to figure it out and state it. We needed to own it. So, here is is folks:

Q: Why do we exist?

A: We believe in challenging the status quo so that each and every uniquely-perfect person, child, adult or family, has the right and opportunity to thrive!

Q: How do we help?

A: We challenge the status quo by providing inspirational resources, building community and encouraging inter-personal transformation.

Hope this post helps clarify what RE is all about: We are here to challenge the status quo; to challenge conventional wisdom and cultural norms surrounding life, learning and relationships! If you are inspired by our intentions as well as our actions we hope you’ll join our tribe!